Unbroken Cycle
by bumblebee1106
Summary: Without his powers Loki gets sent to a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean by the Tesseract. He finds himself in Rapture, that recovered from the civil war under the guidance of Joseph Graham. It doesnt' take long until Loki's situation gets from bad to worse. His only glimmer of hope during that time comes in form of Graham's daughter Amelia.
1. The lighthouse

A group of asgardian soldiers escorted Loki in the throne room. The chains that bound him rattled with every step he took. Before they reached the throne, Frigga called out to her son. Loki stopped and turned towards Frigga, his voice was bitter and cold. "Hello mother, did I made you proud?" Her eyes were filled with sadness. "Please, don't make this worse," she said pleading. "Define: worse," he countered her plea.

"Enough!" boomed Odin's voice. "I will speak to the prisoner alone." Frigga shared one last look with Loki before she almost ran from the throne room. For her, he still was her son.

Loki took a couple of steps forward and built himself up before the throne. He gave a small chuckle and didn't seem to take the situation seriously. "I really don't get, what all this fuss is about." "Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes?" began Odin. "Wherever you go, there is war, ruin and death."

"I went down to Midgard to rule the people of earth as a benevolent god," explained Loki himself. "Just like you."

"We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do," reminded Odin him.

"Give or take 5000 years."

"All this, because Loki desires a throne."

"It is my birthright!" Loki voice was filled with spite. He remembered his childhood then Odin used to tell Thor and him, that they were both born to be kings.

"Your birthright was to die!" yelled Odin enraged. "as a child, cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now to hate me."

"If I am for the axe, then for mercy's sake, just swing it. It's not that I don't love our little talks, it's just I don't love them." Loki's hate filled eyes lingered on the man he once called father and waited for the Allfathers answer.

"Frigga is the only reason you are still alive and you will never see her again. You will spend the rest of your days in the dungeons." Odin grabbed Gungnir firmly and rose from the throne. "And to secure the safety whose around you." Odin pointed the golden spear directly at Loki. "I will hereby take away your power, in the name of my father and his father before him."

Loki was hit by a hot beam of light and felt like a part of him was ripped from his body and soul. The light faded away and Loki fell exhausted onto his knees. His whole body was still shaking and he took deep breaths. His powers, his magic, were completely gone. He was only human.

 _"_ _Look how deep you have fallen."_

Loki recognized the voice in his head as the other.

 _"_ _You failed him, despite all he did for you and now you have face the c_ _consequences!"_

Fear started to wash over Loki. The soldier, which carried the cylinder with the Tesseract in it, trembled, his eyes turned completely black and he smashed the cylinder with all his strength onto the floor. The cylinder broke apart and the impact disturbed the Tesseract enough to send out an energy beam towards Loki.

First Loki felt nothing underneath himself, then he felt cold, harsh waves crashing around him and water started to fill his lungs. With all his strength and filled with panic Loki fought his way to the surface. The moment he broke through the surface, he spat out the salty water and gasped for air, while the waves threw him back and forth.

As much as he could see, Loki only saw the dark and stormy sea in front of him. He scanned his surroundings in hope to spot the coast or at least a ship or a boat. Loki finally spotted a light to his left. He fought against the turbulent sea to reach the light on what seemed like a tower. As he came closer he saw smaller lights at the base of the building that marked the stairs.

Loki finally arrived the stairs and pulled himself out of the sea. He still coughed up water as he collapsed in front of the door. He wondered, why would someone built a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean.

The storm seemed to get stronger and the waves crashed higher and higher against the walls of the lighthouse. Loki rose to his feet and turned towards the door. To his surprise, the door was unlocked.

Cautiously Loki stepped inside the dark lighthouse and took a couple of steps forward. Suddenly the lights turned on by themselves. Over him loomed the golden bust of a man and beneath it hung a red banner that read: No gods or kings. Only man.

"I'm back on Midgard?"

In front of Loki was bronze badge with a quote. "In what country is there a place for people like me? – Andrew Ryan," read Loki out loud and assumed that the golden bust depicted this Andrew Ryan. He wondered in what era the architecture style belonged.

Loki took look around the lighthouse and went down the stairs into the lower level. The lights down there turned on by themselves as well. On the walls he spotted three badges that depicted industry, art and science.

"And what do we have here?" remarked Loki, curious about the bathysphere he found there. He wondered about the function it. Was something beneath the lighthouse only that bathysphere could reach?

He stepped inside the bathysphere to inspect the inside of it. The heavy door of the bathysphere, made from metal and glass, shut behind Loki, trapping him inside. He tried to reopen it, but his attempts were in vain. The option left for him to do, was to pull the bathysphere lever. He hoped that maybe this would open the door.

Loki hesitantly pulled the lever and the bathysphere started moving downwards. "Great, just great."

A screen appeared in front of the door and a projector started to roll.

The first thing he saw was an advertisement for something called Incinerate. "What are plasmids?" he asked himself. Then a man, that Loki recognized from the bust, appeared on screen.

"I am Andrew Ryan and I'm here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to god. No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose…" The screen disappeared again, revealing something, Loki could have never imagined. "Rapture."

In front of the bathysphere laid a city, a city on the bottom of the ocean. Loki couldn't believe his eyes. High-rise next to high-rise stretched along the ocean floor, glass tunnels connected different buildings with another, billboards on the high-rises advertised a variety of businesses. Loki spotted a whale swimming past illuminated windows.

"A city, where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by pity morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of brow, Rapture can become your city as well."

The bathysphere piloted itself towards one of the many high-rises and entered a tunnel. It finally emerged from the water and the door opened itself.

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A/N: I hoped you enjoyed the story so far. English is not my first language but I try my best. Feel free to leave a review.


	2. Welcome to Rapture

Loki's eyes scanned the area cautiously. He was in a large hall and even though the lights were dimmed he could see that no one was there.

Loki stepped outside the bathysphere inside the hall. The hall with the glass dome was well kept. The dark stone floor was partially covered with a red carpet that led towards the three bathyspheres, and on the other side up the stairs and further down the hallway. On the wall next to the stairs shone the golden monument of the great chain. Beneath the monument hung a large red banner with golden font that read: "The great chain is guided by our hand."

The large windows allowed a breath-taking view of the Rapture. Loki never saw a city at the bottom the ocean before. The architecture of the hall and the other buildings of the city didn't fit in the time of the 21st century. He was pretty sure the way the city was built that it wasn't used for military purposes.

Loki wondered if Odin and Thor would come and take him back to Asgard? Would they find him there?

Loki went up the stairs into the next hall. There were to booths for registration and an information panel of the Rapture Transit Authority. Loki jumped over the gate between the two booths, a decision he regretted immediately. He overlooked the Security Camera above the door opposite from him. The camera froze on him, shone a bright light onto him and produced a high-pitched ringing noise. After a few seconds the alarm echoed through the entire building. "Objective: Intruder. Location: Welcome Centre. Initiate lockdown," announced a mechanical voice over the speakers. Giant metal blinds slid over the windows and the bathyspheres disappeared in the water. "Damn it."

Loki cursed the camera and leapt trough the bulkhead door, before it closed and locked itself. He reached the Lounge and saw that huge metal blinds slid over the windows as well. The camera in the corner of the Lounge locked onto him. In the Lounge was a seven feet tall statue of a man passing a torch to another man.

The alarm slowly died down. The silence the alarm left behind was interrupted by the monitor on the wall behind Loki, that came to life.

The picture of a grey haired man in a suit appeared onscreen. He was portrayed with a stern look in front of a window with Raptures silhouette in the background. "A message from Joseph Graham" was written in capital letters on the picture.

"So you are this intruder," said a male voice with an English accent over the speakers. "This city doesn't like uninvited guests."

"I apologize; it was never my intention to trespass. I was in distress at sea and this lighthouse seemed the only safe place for miles," explained the Asgardian.

"And I should believe you that? I need to be sure you're telling the truth. I don't want you to be killed because of a misunderstanding."

Every alarm bell in Loki's head started to ring and he got a really bad feeling.

"Clara, would you kindly bring our visitor to me. And Clara, I need him alive." The monitor turned dark again.

The bulkhead door that lead into a glass tunnel opened to reveal a tall and gangly figure. The figure was glad in a blue and brown diving suit with a round helmet. The port hole of the helmet shone in a crimson light. On her right arm was a large wrist-mounted needle and in her right hand she held a spear gun. Clara had arrived.

Loki tried to summon his daggers but without success. "Shit!" He forgot for a moment that his powers there gone.

Just in time he managed to dodge a spear, that hurled towards him. His eyes scanned the room for any sort of weapon. Loki jumped behind a pillar to dodge the next spear.

Clara let out a high-pitched scream of frustration. The spear gun disappeared in thick green cloud.

With unbelievable speed she leapt forward towards Loki. Her powerful punch knocked out a good chunk of the pillar. Before she could land her next punch, Loki managed to grab her fist. At least his strength was still there.

His eyes widened as he saw the small sparks that started to dance between the fingers of her free hand. "What the hell are you?" he asked shocked.

The lightning bolt she released, threw Loki back against the wall. His body fell twitching to the ground.

"What is this wretched place?" He thought in pain.

Loki tried to get up against the protest of his aching body. Clara stomped her foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground. "Get off me you disgusting freak!" hissed Loki angered.

She let out another high-pitched scream before she brought her fist down into his face and everything went dark around Loki.

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I don't know why, but always immagined Jeremy Irons as Joseph Graham.


	3. Joseph Graham

Slowly Loki opened his eyes. His head was still throbbing really badly. He tried to move, but realized that his hands were bound to a metal chair with shackles. Around his feet were metal shackles too. "How eerily familiar," he thought.

"Not your first time being restrained?" Loki recognized the voice and looked up. Opposite from him sat Joseph Graham at a table reading a book. Joseph closed his book and let it disappear in a small green cloud. It was the same technique Clara used to let her spear gun disappear.

Joseph looked around his early sixties and was of thin built. He wore an anthracite-grey suit with a blue and red tie, at his lapel was a golden pin with the lighthouse emblem. His grey hair was neatly combed back. Joseph radiated a stern, thoughtful and authoritarian aura. His brown eyes had a faint yellow tint.

"Are you not going to answer my question or did you swallow your tongue?" Loki looked at Joseph puzzled. The phrasing of his question was odd to him. "How eerily familiar. Wasn't that what you thought?" Joseph crossed his arms in front his chest.

"How did you know that?"

"Rapture isn't just an extraordinary city because it was built on the bottom of the ocean. It is extraordinary because it lied down the foundation for the next step in humanities evolution." Joseph got up and started to stroll through the interrogation room.

"Oh! My apologies, I haven't introduced myself properly yet. As you probably know I'm Joseph Graham, head of the Rapture city council."

Joseph begun to circle Loki. "A position like mine comes with many different responsibilities as you can surely imagine. It took a lot of time and hard work to not only return this city to its former glory but to improve and expand it to what Rapture is today." Joseph stopped in front of Loki looking down on him. "And my greatest responsibility is to ensure Rapture's safety as well as its citizens."

Loki was carefully thinking about his options. He knew Joseph wasn't just an ordinary mortal and he remembered that strange person, if that thing he called Clara was even human.

"Maybe we can find a solution that satisfies the both of us," Loki said confidently.

"Really? It seems you finally regained your ability to speak," Joseph remarked snarky. "So, tell me about your brilliant idea."

"Oh, I thought you would read my mind again," Loki replied quite feisty.

"Constantly reading the minds of everyone around is handy, but there are hardly any surprises left in life."

"It is a generous proposal, you will set me free again and I will guarantee your survival." Loki just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

Joseph snickered slightly and leaned back against the table. "You really shouldn't make empty threats Loki!"

Loki's eyes widened in shock. How did he know his name?

"I didn't tell you my name."

"I should tell you a little secret of me. I can't only read minds. Then I lay my hand on someone's head I can also see their memories."

Loki heart begun to sink. He realised that Joseph was just toying a little bit with him.

"I know who and what you are Loki Laufeyson. I know what you did in New York. You wanted so badly to be king. Was it really only to satisfy your own ego or did you try to proof something to someone? And not to mention what you did to your family."

"I am a god! How dare you, you a mortal, to meddle with my mind!" Loki was furious and he tried to break the shackles on his hand. He would show this man that it meant to anger him.

Out of nowhere Clara appeared again between him and Joseph and pushed the needle on her forearm against his throat.

"If I were you I would consider my next actions." Joseph's tone was calm but threatening. "It only takes one small command from me and my dear Clara will put you out of your misery."

Clara pushed the needle harder against Loki's throat until a small trail of blood ran down his neck.

Begrudgingly Loki leaned back in the chair. "There's no need to let that thing do your dirty work."

"Her name is Clara and she is not a thing, she is a Big Sister. She and her sisters are the sword that will strike down anything that threatens Rapture" Joseph explained. "That will be all Clara. I can handle the Rest myself."

Clara retracted the needle and disappeared in a purple cloud. Before she vanished a strange raspy sound echoed through her metal helmet. Loki thought it sounded like a chuckle.

"You seem pretty confident." Loki remarked. His magical abilities may be gone, but that fact didn't change his physical strength and abilities. "I mean, for such a sophisticated man like you, it appears pretty unwise to send your lap dog away."

"Is that so?" Joseph asked nonchalantly. "Should be concerned?"

"You know I could break free from this bonds anytime and easily snap your neck." Loki threatened Joseph.

Joseph nodded lightly. His brown eyes focused on Loki.

Suddenly Loki let out an agonizing scream. The pain was tremendous, it felt like some unseen force drove a knife right in his head.

"As you can see or better feel right now, you should not underestimate me."

His nails duck into the arm rest of the chair. Loki just wanted this pain to stop.

"Stop it!" Loki pleaded. "STOP IT, PLEASE!"

The moment he said please the invisible knife disappeared and the pain slowly started to subside. Loki panted heavily as he tried to recover.

"I hope I made myself clear. I didn't take this city back just by asking kindly. I stained my hands enough in the past, but the end justified the means."

"That the hell are you?!" Loki was still shaken from this experience.

A small smile appeared on Joseph's lips. "I'm just a man as you are now. I simply took advantage of the possibilities that Rapture gave me and used them the way I thought fit."

"What will happen now? Are you going to kill me?" He asked tired.

"No, killing you would be such a waste" Joseph sneered at Loki. "I have to think about, what I'm going to do with you. But in the meantime, you will be housed in New Persephone. It seems you will still end up in a prison cell."

Joseph left the interrogation room and two guards stepped in. One of them hold a syringe with a white liquid in it.

"You will regret this! I swear it!" Loki yelled after him. The guard injected Loki with the liquid and it soon affected him. The room started to spin, the guards in front of him became more and more blurry and he was once more swallowed by darkness.

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It took me a bit longer to finish this chapter than I thought.


	4. New Persephone

Loki jerked awake. He felt nauseous and suffered horrible headache.

"Easy. That narcotic they used has some nasty after-affects," said a deep and calming voice. Opposite from Loki's bed sat an African American man around his early forties on his own bed. His black hair was close-cropped. His features were soft, paired with friendly brown eyes.

Loki looked around the room. The small room was only big enough to fit two beds and a small cupboard inside. The toilette and the sink were separated by a thin wall and a curtain from the rest of the room. The white paint on the walls and the grey tiles on the floor had seen better days. But one detail about the room caught his full attention. It was a heavy metal door with a tiny window.

He lifted the thin blanket off of him and looked down on himself. His Asgardian attire was replaced by a bluish-grey overall. Loki tried to grasp the situation and he absentminded ran his hand through his hair, he noticed that his hair was cut short.

A heavy wave of nausea hit Loki. He reached the toilet bowl just in time before he started to throw up. He couldn't really remember the last time he threw up that badly.

After Loki was done, his cell mate handed him a tin cup filled with water, that he thankfully took. "Better?" he asked Loki. "A bit," Loki answered tired as he retreated to his bed.

His cell mate extended his hand towards Loki, who returned his handshake hesitantly. "I'm James Franklin," he introduced himself. "And you are?" "Loki." Was his short answer. "You should try to rest a bit more," James suggested.

Loki lied done again on the hard mattress and faced the wall next to him. A part of him thought how unreal his situation was, like a bad dream, but he knew that wasn't the case. All of this was real. Another part of him just wanted to go home. Were they looking for him? Would they come and take him back home?

Loki didn't know how long he slept, but the extra rest made him feel better.

James lied on his bed reading a book. He was absorbed in his literature and didn't notice, that Loki was awake.

Loki eyed the cell door. It was just a normal metal door. The idea in him grew, to try and rip the door open. Under normal circumstances he wasn't someone who just relied on brute strength, that was more Thor's way.

He got up and walked towards the door, but before Loki could touch door, James pulled him away from it. "What are you doing?!" Loki exclaimed frustrated.

"Hands off that door as long it is locked!" James warned him. "If touch that thing right now, you will be hit by an electrical shock. It won't kill you, but it will hurt like hell."

Both men sat down on their beds. Loki stared into space, he could scream of anger and frustration.

"I can understand that you want to get out of here, but a jailbreak here would be suicide", James tried to explain to him. "I'm sorry."

The next day started with a shrill alarm over the sound system. The guards escorted the inmates to the dining hall. During breakfast the other inmates starred at Loki, some of them whispered to each other.

James noticed how uncomfortable and irritated Loki was. They are always like that to newbie, don't worry it will go by," he spoke under his breath.

After breakfast a prison guard approached Loki and ordered him to follow him. And why should I come with you?" Loki asked snarky. "Because I said so!" the guard snapped.

James watched the scene with worry. "Just go with him," he mumbled under his breath to himself.

Loki started to get argumentative with the guard and refused to come with him. The guard lost his patience and drew his baton. He tried to hit Loki, but he dodged the attack. Loki disarmed the guard and broke the baton in half. "Don't you dare, you worm," Loki hissed angry.

Another guard neared him from behind and shot an electric bolt out of her hand. Loki went on his knees in pain. Misbehave once more prisoner and you will regret it," she threatened him. "Do you understand?" "I do," Loki answered reluctant.

After the incident, the prison guards handcuffed him and brought Loki to an office. He was seated in the chair in front of the desk and the guards left.

Behind the desk was a tall window. The sepia colored floral-patterned wallpaper and the wooden floor gave the office a somber and depressing atmosphere. To the left and right of the desk was a number of bookshelves filled with a variety of books about psychology and note books.

A woman in her late twenties entered the room. She wore her dark hair in a bun, a few loose strands dangled around her face. Her well-shaped figure was dressed in a black pencil skirt with a thin brown belt, a green sweater and dark pumps.

She sat behind the desk and pulled a note book from a drawer. "I'm Dr. Graham and I was assigned to create a psychological evaluation of you, Mr. Laufeyson."

Loki's heart sank a bit than he heard her name. "Graham?"

"Yes, you already met my father yesterday." She smiled at him and scribbled something in her note book. "My father informed me already of your origin. How about we start with your family?"

"Why don't you ask your father?"

A smug smile flickered across her face. "Not the cooperative type? Looks like I have to reach into my bag of tricks." A strange green orb appeared in her left hand and she threw it at Loki. The orb burst open and coated Loki in a green liquid. He felt lightheaded but focused on the woman in front of him.

Dr. Graham repeated her question. Without thinking, Loki just answered her. "My biological father was Laufey, king of the frost giants of Jotunheim. He abandoned me as an infant, but Odin took me in. I have no knowledge of my biological mother. I killed Laufey myself then I had the chance. I was raised by Odin and his wife Frigga, along with their son, I thought they were my real family." Loki couldn't believe what he was saying, but he couldn't stop to obey her commands.

Dr. Graham continued with her questions until the effect of the green liquid subsided.

"Are you done now?" Loki asked disgruntled. The psychiatrist looked up and smiled softly. "I am, really interesting results. You have been through a lot. I can imagine it was pretty hard to deal with the things you experienced, and still being refused any appreciation of your adoptive father."

Loki snickered and rolled his eyes. "Don't pretend you care, by acting friendly. I'm not a fool, you deceitful hag."

Dr. Graham was silent, got up and took the note book with her. She stopped next to Loki and laid her hand on his shoulder. "You should better learn to show respect. At the moment you are at the bottom food chain," she said smoothly. "Did you know we have a special chamber here dedicated for extremely stubborn prisoners to sweat out any foul behavior. For a frost giant that must be really difficult to handle."

A lump was forming in Loki's throat, as he remembered his time with Thanos.

"Just a little piece of advice on my part."

Dr. Graham left and the guards escorted Loki back to his cell.


	5. Fatigue duty

Loki was already awake when the alarm went off like every morning. For three days he was in New Persephone, since then there was no sign of Joseph or his daughter. "Good morning," James mumbled sleepily and sat up. "Morning," Loki replied. He wondered how James could even sleep on this uncomfortable beds.

Half an hour later, the guards of cell block B escorted the prisoners first to the showers and then into the dining hall. Thoughtfully, Loki poked around in his porridge and looked through the large windows into the depths of the ocean. He had been wondering for a while what that strange glow below New Persephone was.

"Franklin. Laufyson. "They were called by Mediha Yalcin, she was responsible for the assignment of the fatigue duty. "You two will be working in Laundry 4 for the next two weeks." Mediha noticed Loki rolling his eyes. "All prisoners have to work here, whether they like it or not. You should get used to it."

Two guards took Loki and James to the eight laundries housed in a side wing of New Persephone. When the two entered laundry 4, the guards locked them behind them. The floor and walls were white tiled. Ten trolleys of laundry stood opposite the two washing machines. In addition to the washing machines were also two clothes dryer. In the middle of the room was a long table with two irons, and several baskets were kept underneath.

"I'm not a maid!" Loki growled angrily. "This tasks are beneath me." Grumbling Loki sat down on the small bench, which was attached to the wall and refused to work. "These are the rules unfortunately," James sighed, who pulled the first trolley in front of the washing machine and sorted the laundry items in the two washing machines to throw.

Three hours passed and James worked like a madman and had already washed four trolleys full of laundry. While the two washing machines were running, he sorted the next load into the trolley. In a 45‑minute cycle, he threw the laundry in the dryer. After the laundry was dry, James ironed, folded and then sorted the laundry in the baskets, on which he put a small name tag. Loki wondered why he was working so hard, even so hard, that beads of sweat already gathered on his forehead.

The door opened and two guards entered, placing two lunch trays on the table. They examined the done work, then their gaze wandered over to Loki. "What about you, prisoner? You should work and not sit around lazily! Or do we have to drum some working morale into you? "

Before Loki could say anything, James intervened. "He's just taking a short break and besides, this is also his first day here in the laundry." Loki was puzzled that James lied for him.

The two guards were satisfied with his answer and mentioned before leaving that the rest of the laundry should be ready by late afternoon.

They sat down at the table using two upside down baskets as stools. "Why did you lie?" Loki blurted out. He wanted to understand why James had done this.

"I didn´t want you to get in trouble," James replied curtly and continued to eat his soup.

"But you knew that they would come and control the work."

James just nodded. Loki couldn´t understand why he did that. He was working so hard that it did not seem so suspicious that James had done all the work alone.

James saw Loki's thoughtful look. "You are new here and don´t know how this city and especially this place work. Life in NP is tough and more than enough people didn´t survive their time here," said James. "In the few days since you were here, I heard a lot of rumors. I don´t know how much of it is true and how much are only embellishments. You don´t seem like a completely bad person, I think you still have good core."

Loki felt guilty. "Thank you, and I apologize for my behavior." James laughed briefly and accepted his apology.

After lunch, Loki started to help James with the laundry. James explained how the machines worked and what else needed to be done there. Then they started to iron and fold the already dry laundry.

"How long have you been in Rapture?" Loki asked him.

"Always, for 43 years. I was even born here. When my parents came here, they were almost children themselves, "James replied. "Would you like to know something about Rapture's history? I can tell you a lot about it, but for starters we should begin with brief summary of everything. What do you think?"

Loki thought that some background knowledge about Rapture could not hurt and gratefully accepted James offer.

"So: Rapture was built in 1946 by Andrew Ryan. His vision was to build a free city in which the elite could develop freely. All in all, the first decade went very well for Rapture. The city grew, and more and more people followed Ryan's invitation. One of them turned out to be an imposter who assumed the identity of Frank Fontaine. Over time, Fontaine eventually developed into Ryan's archenemy. With charities Fontaine brought the low class citizens of Rapture on his side with charities like homes for the poor, among them were also the people who built this city. In 1958 Fontaine faked his own death, but came back under the alias Atlas and gathered a following around him. And then he organised 1958 New Year's Eve Riots. After the first bomb exploded in the Kashmir Restaurant a civil war broke out in Rapture. On the one side Fontaine, disguised as Atlas, and on the other Ryan. What aggravated this whole civil war was that many of Raptures residents mutated into Splicers, due to the excessive ADAM consumption."

"Sorry, that I interrupt you, but what is ADAM?" Loki asked.

"Oh, I may not be the best person to answer this question, the scientists here would be a better source for these answers. You already saw the light of the Luminescent Biomass beneath New Persephone, that's what mutated a type of sea slug that can be found around the city. Because of that mutation they produce this substance called ADAM. Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum was the first to discover its special properties, after a smuggler with crippled hands was bitten by a slug and his hands healed overnight. ADAM is able to overwrite the genetic code by replacing one's cells with unstable stem cells. ADAM is used to create Plasmids and Gene Tonics. Plasmids are able to give its user special abilities. The female guard for example, she used a Plasmid called Electro Bolt. And Gene Tonics are able to make one run faster, be more intelligent and so on."

"What about Joseph?" Loki was eager to know what gave him these abilities.

"He has a special Plasmid, one of its kind to exactly, it's called Telepath. His late friend and supporter Dr. Frank Campbell created it."

The two men finished their work in time and the guards escorted them back to their cells.

"I think we should continue this little history lesson tomorrow," James suggested tired.

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to leave a review.

The next chapter will delve into Rapture´s history after Ryan and Lamb.


	6. History lesson

Loki and James returned to their work in the laundry the next day and James continued his history lesson there.

"Well, after the Civil War broke out, Fontaine, disguised as Atlas, was cornered, but he still had an ace up his sleeve - Andrew Ryan's son. The boy, his name was Jack, was subjected to genetic experiments that made him an adult man, even though he was only four years old at the time he returned to Rapture. Jack was also programmed so that when he heard the phrase, ' _Would you kindly'_ he did everything he was told. Fontaine activated his sleeper agent and so Jack hijacked a plane and crashed it near the lighthouse. After he arrived here, Fontaine piloted Jack across the city until he finally reached Hephaestus, where Jack finally met his father. Andrew Ryan was aware of who was facing him and ordered his own son to kill him. After Ryan was dead, Fontaine took control of the city and he wanted to get rid of Jack, but he survived with the help of Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum and the rescued Little Sisters. Dr. Tenenbaum even managed to free him from the mind control. Eventually Jack confronted a spliced up Fontaine, and with the help of the rescued girls he managed to kill Fontaine. Together with these girls, Jack returned to the surface and raised them like his own children."

"Little Sisters?" Loki asked puzzled.

"Oh, I forgot about that. As I told you, ADAM is obtained through sea slugs, but the gathered quantity wasn´t enough to satisfy the demand. Dr. Tenenbaum developed a procedure in which a sea slug is transplanted into a host's stomach. This symbiosis produces 30 times the amount of ADAM than before." James' features grew darker and his eyes filled with sadness. "However, only little girls were suitable as hosts for the slugs. The transplantation turns these girls into Little Sisters and they change a lot. Their eyes begin to glow yellow, their voices sound distorted and they just look sick, and then there are the psychological changes as well. The Little Sisters can´t remember much of their past in this state and have a totally distorted perception of their surroundings. No matter how run-down and destroyed their surroundings are, the Little Sisters see the exact opposite of it. Above all, the Little Sisters are responsible for gathering ADAM from dead bodies all over Rapture. Since the girls are an easy target for Splicers, they are protected by Big Daddies. At the beginning of this whole procedure, orphans were first used, followed by children whose parents were either in jail, seriously ill, or brought their daughters to the orphanages for other reasons, and then children were eventually abducted from the surface and this happens to this day. The Little Sisters who survive and reach puberty are turned into Big Sisters."

"When I came here, Joseph sent a Big Sister named Clara after me." Loki remembered Clara quite well. "Unlike the Big Daddies, the Big Sisters keep their names. The Big Daddies, on the other hand, are named after their models Bouncer, Rosie, etc., or their serial number, "James told him.

"In the beginning the Big Daddies were created for maintenance work around city. But after the Little Sisters were created, their purpose shifted to protect the children until to their death. The men who became Big Daddies were mainly from Persephone back then and today they are taken from New Persephone. The men are taken to Point Prometheus where they are merged with the diving suits. In addition, they can no longer speak and only let out something that sounds like whale calls. In addition, all the memories of these men are wiped out and they are programmed to fulfill only one purpose: protect their Little Sister with their lives. Some of the inmates say they rather face a death penalty than end up as a Big Daddy."

At exactly 12 o'clock, two guards brought them lunch and checked on the done work. After lunch, James and Loki returned to their work.

"But we are not done yet with our history lesson. After the deaths of Ryan and Fontaine, the power struggle between Dr. Sofia Lamb and Joseph Graham began. While Graham's philosophy was more like Ryan's, Dr. Lamb on the other hand wanted to create an Utopia in which her daughter Eleanor Lamb should be the daughter of the people and continue her mothers work. However, Graham, with the help of Dr. Jonathan Thorpe and Dr. Frank Campbell continued to expand his power and influence, especially with the newly developed Telepath Plasmid and the advancing development of synthetic ADAM and slowly pushed Dr. Lamb back. It also benefited Graham that Eleanor turned away from her mother and both left Rapture in 1968. And not to forget, he good Dr. Lamb blew up a good portion of Persephone before she left, after this place was rebuilt, it is since then called New Persephone. By that time, he had claimed Olympus Heights, Arcadia, Neptune's Bounty, Medical Pavilion, Hephaestus, and Point Prometheus for himself. Finally, after Dr. Lamb was out of the picture, the rest of the districts gradually followed and it was not long before he had control of the entire city. His ambitions were unstoppable and if anyone tried to oppose him back then, he simply crushed them mentally. In order to rebuild the city and to be able to follow his ambitious plans to expand Rapture, he returned to the surface in 1970. There he soon took control over several companies on different continents, that since that time all supply Rapture with different resources. None of those affected could escaped Joseph's mind control and everyone obediently followed his instructions. However, from time to time he must return to the surface to ensure the obedience of his puppets up there. In memory of Rapture's golden age, and because Graham is a sentimental human being, Rapture remains in the 1950s. The remaining Splicers were assigned special districts, these were Paupers Drop, Siren Alley and Dionysus Park. Funny, since these were districts, which were under Dr. Lamb´s control, looks like Graham still holds a grudge against this woman. Should a resident have any sign of becoming a splicer, he will be taken to one these districts immediately, with no chance of returning. He justifies this as precautions and to ensure stability and safety for the other residents. But is it really better to tear people out of their usual environment, separate them from their families and friends? Since then, Joseph Graham is the sole ruler over Rapture. The city council is joke, they are only a bunch of yes-man, that agree with everything he says, because they fear Graham. From time to time there were council members, who disagreed or opposed him and his decisions, with dire consequences for them."

"Wait, you said Joseph Graham was in Rapture during the civil war? How old is he?" Loki asked astonished. „Believe it or not, he is in his early nineties already." Loki´s first thought was, that James was joking, but he realised soon he was serious. "Impossible. Graham should be a frail old man in that age, he looks easily thirty years younger." James smiled at Loki´s disbelief. "He and his entourage used ADAM over the years to slow down their ageing process."

After being picked up by the guards, Loki and James were allowed to spend some time in the recreational area of New Persephone until dinner. The recreational area was different from the rest of the facility, there was a light coloured wooden floor instead of tiles and the walls were decorated with green wallpaper. In the room were two red sofas and several armchairs in the same colour. A couple of bookshelves were placed next to the large window, opposite to which stood an old jukebox, playing jazz music. In the corner next to the door was a Security camera mounted to monitor the activities of the prisoners.

James rummaged through in the bookshelves for a new reading. Loki also decided to take a look at the books. "You can borrow books here for a week or two," James told him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw another inmate passing through the room and mumbling something to himself. After a couple of minutes, he approached James and Loki. He was about Loki´s height, but his built was broader. His short brown hair was dishevelled and his eyes looked glassy. The other inmate jostled James roughly.

"Oi, Watch out!" The other inmate yelled at James. Based on his appearance, James felt uneasy and tried to de-escalate the situation by apologizing to the man. He knew that a number of inmates could be very unpredictable and short tempered.

Suddenly the other inmate grabbed James by the collar. "You think you're funny, mate?!" Before James could say anything, the man's fist hit his face and James went down. Before James hit the ground, his head slammed against the base of one of the bookshelves. The inmate had blown the fuse and lunged at the stunned James.

The inmate wanted to strike a second time, but Loki grabbed his hand and jerked him off James. When this guy still wasn´t calming down, Loki resorted to more drastic measures by dislocating the inmate's arm and pushing him to the ground. "I hope you behave now, otherwise I'll dislocate your other arm too, mate," Loki hissed threatening. Six guards stormed the recreational area and Loki let go of the man and turned towards James, who was still lying on the ground with a bleeding injury at the back of his head.

While three of the guards took care of the crazy prisoner, another guard examined the injured James. "Laufyson, you're helping me get him to the infirmary! And no tricks, is that clear?" Loki nodded and they took James to the infirmary.

* * *

I wish you all a happy new year :)


	7. Loss

After they reached the infirmary, James lied down on a stretcher, pressing a cloth against the bleeding laceration at the back of his head. The guard left the room in search for the doctor, leaving James and Loki alone.

"Thank you. I don´t know what else this guy would have done to me. I can´t afford to die here, not yet," James groaned in pain.

In that moment the door of the examination room opened and a grumpy looking doctor entered the room with the guard. "Why does these things keep happening, when I want to watch a game. I´m sick of Morris and his shit," the doctor cussed angry and took a look at James bleeding wound. "A few stitches and some painkillers and it should be alright again. You´re the fourth person Morris beat up in the last three weeks."

The doctor was annoyed that he had to do his job and hastily patched James up. In the meantime, the guard took Loki aside. "What was going on between Franklin and Morris?" "James hadn´t done anything. This guy, Morris, seems to have some deep routed anger issues," Loki answered in a harsh tone. "I really can´t grasp the reason, why you won´t put someone like him in solitary confinement."

The guard escorted James and Loki back to their cell. James lied done, his head still throbbing. "You look awful," Loki stated with a soft smile on his lips. James chuckled a bit. "I´m not only looking awful, I feel awful as well."

The smile on James lips faded. "Four years. It´s only four more years I have to endure this hell hole until I´m free."

Two months have passed and Loki was still stuck in Rapture. _Do they really think that I´m dead or do they just don´t care?_ These thoughts passed through his minds a lot in the past weeks. From time to time he even felt homesick. But what made his situation a bit more bearable was the friendship that had developed between James and him.

In the last months Loki really started to wonder, why James was a prisoner. He had reservations to ask James, why he was arrested and James avoided conversations about his past. James was always well-mannered and respectful. He seemed like the last person you would think was involved in some criminal activity.

One evening, Loki´s curiosity was unbearable. "James, can I ask you something personal?"

James put his book aside and looked at him puzzled. "Alright, go on."

"Why are you here?" James brows narrowed and he sat up. "You don´t have to answer that. I was ju-"

"It´s okay." James interrupted him. "I just became uncomfortable. Before I came here I was a journalist and freelance author. I worked for a well published newspaper, the Rapture Tribune. You could say, that I had everything. A well-paid job, a beautiful wife and a wonderful daughter. But all good things come to an end. Eight years ago, my wife became pregnant again and we were expecting a son. Laura, my daughter was so excited to be big sister. As the pregnancy continued, complications arose. Three months before our son should have been born, Lydia collapsed at home. She was brought in time to the Medical Pavilion, but the doctors were busy to take care of another woman, who was about to give birth at the time. The doctors deemed her more important than my wife because she was a part of Rapture´s high society. My wife´s condition got worse and the heartbeat of our son got weaker. Lydia nor our son survived. They died shortly after a doctor finally showed up."

"I really sorry for your loss." Loki sat down next to him and laid his hand on James shoulder.

"I was devastated, but I had to stay strong for Laura. But I couldn´t tolerate this injustice and I started to take a deeper look in the city. My research wasn´t well received of course. Under a pseudonym I wrote pamphlets, revealing all my discoveries. After a while I concentrated my research on Graham and his actions. Research about him, about his work and about the questionable things in his family. And after three years I was arrested, interrogated and then sentenced to serve nine years' prison. I was deemed a traitor, who was disrupting the peace in Rapture. But it wasn´t enough for Graham to destroy my reputation and imprison me, no, he had to come after my daughter. She was placed in an orphanage and shortly after turned into a Little Sister." James eyes started to water and he clenched his fists. "Laura is 13 now, that means she will soon be turned into a Big Sister. Then I´m free I will find her and save her. And then we are leaving this hell hole. I´m not able to give her back the time she lost but I can give her future."

James groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not again," he sighed. For weeks, James suffered from recurring headaches. He visited the infirmary, but the doctor just gave him some painkillers. Loki handed him a cup of water and James took a painkiller.

In the past two weeks James was feeling worse. He was suffering from heavy migraines and nausea. He even experienced numbness in his hands. James was afraid, the medical personnel wasn´t much of a help, but he couldn´t give up.

Loki felt helpless, as he watched James deteriorating health. He wanted to do something, but he didn´t know what he could do in his situation.

Despite James' health problems, he and Loki still had to fulfill their work schedule. After a long day washing dishes, the two went back to their cells. They weren´t escorted by a guard because the scullery was like the prison cells in the main wing of New Persephone. James suddenly stopped. "James?!" Loki looked at him worried. James breathing became uneven, he took a shaky step forward and collapsed. Loki caught him before he hit to the floor.

"James?" James lay in his arms and repeated one word: "Laura." "HELP!" Loki called out in panic. "James, you have to stay with me. Think about Laura. She needs you. Please." Finally, two guards arrived. "What´s wrong with him?" The female guard asked. "I don´t know. He just collapsed," Loki hastily explained. The other guard left to get medical help.

James breathing stopped as the doctor and two nurses arrived. "He isn´t breathing anymore!" Loki was pulled away from James by the guards. He was dragged to his cell and locked up.

Loki walked his cell up and down. He was worried about James. He didn´t know how much time already past.

His cell door unlocked and two different guards stand in the doorway. "How is he?" Loki blurted out and got up from his bed.

"Keep your distance prisoner!" One guard ordered him in a threatening tone. "Franklin didn´t make it."

Loki was in shock. The guard kept talking, but the words didn´t reach Loki anymore. James was dead, no that´s not right. It must be a mistake.

The guards left and Loki was alone. He didn´t sleep a single minute that night. He took a look at James personal belongings and found a photo album, with pictures of James, his wife and his daughter. His jaw clenched. Loki remembered James promise, that all he wanted was just to save his daughter. He closed album, set it aside and hastily wiped away a tear.

Rage was boiling inside Loki. Slowly the words of the guard crawled back into his mind. _"Seems it was a blood clot in his brain."_

Loki realised how James got the blood clot in the first place. He must have gotten it after he was beaten up by this man, Morris.

For three days Loki kept an eye on Morris and as he went to the rest room after breakfast, Loki followed him undetected. He quietly closed the door behind him. Loki turned into a predator that only had one goal in mind. Without a word he grabbed Morris and smashed his head against a mirror. Loki then continued to drag him towards a stall and pushed his head into the toilet bowl. Morris´ arms flailed around helplessly as water rushed into his lungs. Loki´s iron grip held him in place for another moment, before he pulled him up again.

"Let me go, please," Morris begged him. Loki simply shook his head and dragged him out of the stall. He picked up a shard of the broken mirror and stabbed Morris repeatedly in chest and neck. Loki only stopped when he heard the screams of the guards behind him. One guard pointed a gun at him and ordered him to drop the shard. Lazily, Loki let go of the blood covered and lifeless Morris and dropped the shard. There was not a single sign of regret on Loki´s face only a small smile.

* * *

Sorry, it took me quite a while to finish this chapter. I promise the next chapter wont take that long


	8. Condemned

Almost two hours have passed since the incident in the restroom. The guards took Loki to an interrogation room and left him there. His hands were handcuffed to the table in front of him. It bothered him that he couldn´t wash the blood off and change his clothes. He didn´t feel any remorse for what he did.

The door of the interrogation room opened and Loki saw an old acquaintance. "Mr. Graham? It's been awhile." Loki leaned back with a smug smile on his lips. Joseph sat down on the chair opposite and placed a folder on the table. Joseph Graham looked briefly inside the folder. "Am I the only one who has a déjà vu right now?" Loki sneered.

"For weeks you behave yourself and I hear not a single complaint from the staff. And then, out of nowhere, you slaughter an inmate." Joseph crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Why?"

"Why don´t you just read my mind?" Loki´s smile vanished and he looked Graham dead in the eyes. "Your arrogance hasn´t changed a bit," Joseph replied calm. "I want to hear it out of your mouth."

Loki sighed deeply. "Morris deserved it. James Franklin would still be alive, if Morris had not attacked him back then. He would have never suffered from this blood clot. But I guess your glad that James didn´t survive his time here." Loki´s voice sounded bitter.

"Mr. Franklin was an intelligent man, but not a smart one. He knew what he got himself into, then he did what he did. He chose to follow his crazy conspiracies instead of taking care of his daughter. And in the end, it was his own fault that he got killed by a crazy inmate," Joseph remarked emotionless.

Loki´s broke his handcuffs, slammed his hands on the table and stood up. With hateful eyes he looked down at Joseph. "It wasn´t his fault," Loki hissed. "He was my friend. If all of it were just some stupid conspiracies without any foundation, why was he then convicted and imprisoned? The truth is, you were scared of him. Your greatest fear is to lose your power and position, if the citizens realise what kind of person Joseph Graham really is. You might be able to manipulate a couple of people at the same time, but an entire city with several thousands of inhabitants is a completely different story."

Joseph's facial expression remained the same, but Loki could see the anger burning in his eyes. "Did I hit a nerve?"

"Sit down!" Joseph ordered Loki, who did as he was told, even if it wasn´t his free will. "I thought the time here would have made you at least a bit humble, seems I was wrong."

"I´m not that easy to break, Mr. Graham."

"How long do you want to behave like a stubborn child? It´s just as my daughter wrote in her record about you: Your arrogance is your doom." Joseph´s voice remained calm but threatening. "Do you know which day is tomorrow?"

"Wednesday," Loki answered after a moment's thought. Joseph chuckled a bit, the first time he dropped his poker face. "Yes, that´s right, but tomorrow will be an important day for you. The court will announce your verdict."

"Shouldn´t the accused be present at his own trial?"

"The court saw your presence as unnecessary. The expertise of Dr. Erin Graham was more than enough."

"And that's what you call a fair trial?" Loki laughed bitterly and shook his head uncomprehendingly. "For the things you did, it is," Joseph responded. "What kind of treatment did you expect for a liar, a backstabber, a killer and an usurper? Open your eyes Loki, you are now the one without power. You have lost everything because of your childish demeanour. You are the king of failure. No wonder your family forgot you."

"That´s enough!" Loki slammed his fists on the table. "What´s wrong? Did I hit a nerve?" Joseph mused.

Rage clouded Loki´s mind. How much would he enjoy it to choke the life out of Joseph. A sudden burst of pain brought Loki back to reality. He grabbed his head in agony and fell to the floor. He squirmed in pain. Then he opened his eyes, Joseph stood above him with crossed arms. Joseph shook his head slowly. "We'll see us tomorrow."

After Joseph left and the pain stopped, two guards came in and took him back to his cell. The first thing he did back in his cell was to scrub the blood off of himself at the sink and to change his clothes. Loki dropped down on his bed. Out of his nightstand he pulled a golden pocket watch with hunter-case and watch chain. The watch belonged to James. Loki wished he was here.

The next day came and Loki was on edge. There was no wake-up call this morning for him and no guard came to open his cell for breakfast. He heard guards and prisoners alike walk past his cell. Everything seemed to follow its normal routine.

It was around noon when two guards Loki came to the interrogation room where he had been the day before, but this time, the guards stayed. Shortly thereafter, Joseph Graham and an unknown man in a lab coat came in. The thin man with greying red hair looked to be around his mid-fifties to early sixties. "This is Dr. Thorpe, my oldest friend," Joseph introduced the man in the lab coat. Dr. Thorpe was mentioned by James before. He was described by James as some kind of mad scientist and he too used ADAM to slow down his aging process, Dr. Thorpe was also in charge of the Protector Program.

"The court came to a decision. You will join the Protector Program," Joseph revealed. "I have figured out something special just for you," Dr. Thorpe chimed in.

Loki shook his head in disbelief. "You can´t do this to me."

"We can and we will," Joseph replied. "I think it is a good way to atone for your sins. To let you rot in a cell would be a such waste." "Plus, the scientific purpose you will have. I never had something like you to work with." Dr Thorpe smiled with excitement. "You will obey Dr. Thorpe; do you understand?" Joseph forced Loki to comply. "I do," he answered reluctantly.

The guards put handcuffs on Loki, who just wanted to fight them off and run away, but Joseph´s will was to strong. Like an obedient dog he followed Dr. Thorpe, the guards accompanied them. They left the prison complex and made their way to the Station of the Atlantic Express. After they sat down in the empty wagon, a mechanical voice spoke. "Welcome back, Dr. Jonathan Thorpe. What is your destination?" "Point Prometheus, non-stop," the doctor answered.

Loki started to blur out his surroundings. In his head he began to pray. He prayed for someone to come and get him out of Rapture. He didn´t care who it was, if it was Odin, Thor or his human friends. He just wanted someone to come.

The train came to a halt and the mechanical voice announced that they reached their destination. They left the wagon and went straight to Failsafe Armored Escorts. The prison guards left and two assistants in white full body suits and masks took over now. Dr. Thorpe entered the facility through the staff entrance. The assistants lead Loki into a small room, there they proceeded to take of his prison clothes and then placed him in a decontamination chamber. A range of chemicals were sprayed on him from all sides. After the decontamination process was completed, the second set of doors opened.

Loki left the airlock and the two white-clad figures put him in hospital gown. They escorted him along the hallway to one of the labs. On his way there, Loki heard the agonizing scream of another man.

In the lab, Dr. Thorpe and his six assistants waited for his new specimen. Dr. Thorpe changed from his casual attire and lab coat into a surgical gown complete with gloves, cap and mask. "We have no time to lose," Dr. Thorpe proclaimed. "Get him on the table."

Dr. Thorpe's assistants strapped Loki to the cross shaped operating table so he couldn´t move. "And now keep still." The bright lamp above the operating table was turned on. "Due to the different physical conditions of this candidate he will receive a doubled dosage," Dr. Thorpe explained to his assistants. Out of the corner of his eye, Loki could see that one of the assistants was operating a camera.

Several catheters were introduced into veins in his neck, arms, hands, legs and feet, one catheter was introduced into a vein within his torso. "He is ready for the intravenous therapy," a female assistant said. Loki couldn´t really see, what was going on around him. A metal cart was placed on the head of the operating table. On this cart was a machine that was used to pump ADAM into the candidate's body. The tubes were connected to the machine and Dr Thorpe pushed the button to start it. "This could hurt a little." Dr. Thorpe smiled behind his mask.

The red substance began to enter his body and shortly after Loki suffered from the worst pain in his life. His body felt like it was burning and being slowly torn apart. The pain was unbearable. "Just kill me!" Loki begged. "The pain is completely natural. The ADAM is overwriting your genetic code," Dr. Thorpe explained to him. The ADAM entered his body the worse Loki felt. He thought the pain couldn´t get any worse, but the pain continued to grow stronger to point there he lost consciousness.

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to leave a review.

Big thank you to everyone who follows the story :).


	9. Point of no return

Loki awakened from a dreamless sleep and sat up carefully. He was locked in a tiny cell. A simple bed was the only piece of furniture in that cell. Every movement was very painful for him. The first thing he noticed, was the tattoo on the back of his right hand. He recognized the symbol, it was a rune called Mannaz. His sore musculature was swollen and much more developed than before. He then noticed that he was suffering from a constant increasing and decreasing numbness in his limbs. His back felt somewhat strange, he thought. With his hands, he could feel the metal augmentation on his spine, which he identified as the cause of the numbness.

Dread and despair filled his mind and heart. James told him enough about the Big Daddies. Soon enough they would continue their work and Loki would slowly fall apart, piece by piece, until there is nothing else left but an empty shell.

In the meantime, Dr. Jonathan Thorpe met with Joseph Graham in his office in Hephaestus. Once this was the office of Andrew Ryan, but after Joseph gained control of the city, he decided to take over the office as well. In recent years, the office was adapted to Joseph´s wishes and needs.

The two sat down in a slightly separated part of the office. The fireplace there was installed years ago, but only for a decorative purpose. It reminded Joseph of his former home on the surface. In front of the fireplace were two leather sofas placed opposite each other. His secretary put two cups of coffee on the coffee table between the two leather sofas and disappeared back into the anteroom.

"How's it going?" Josef asked, taking a sip of coffee. "Good. However, it surprised me that his body accepted the ADAM so quickly. His physiological foundations don´t seem to differ so much from ours," Dr. Thorpe reported. "But I can tell you, our friend has pretty stable bones. It took me three times as long as usual to strengthen the spine. That´s why I want to give him a lighter armor, which in turn will make it more agile. He´s going to be a really interesting model: faster and more flexible than an ordinary Big Daddy, but stronger and more resilient than a regular Big Sister. He will be able to use Plasmids as well." Dr. Thorpe took a big sip of his coffee. "And I can finally test the new movable helmet design Sasha has been working on for months."

Dr. Thorpe's eyes sparkled with excitement; he looked like a child on Christmas morning. He could hardly wait until Loki's transformation process was completed. "If only Frank could see this." Jonathan sighed heavy. "He would be eager and excited to do some testing for himself." Joseph smiled softly and nodded. The memory of his close friend was still painful, even after his death two years ago.

"The next step would be Tabula Rasa." Before Jonathan could continue, Joseph interrupted him. "Could you skip this step?" His friend looked at Joseph as if he had three heads. "Are you sure? You´re certainly aware that this is a big risk. He would keep all of his memories and to a certain degree his free will."

"Yes it is, but I came to this decision after some deliberation. I think he will be more effective in that way. I saw his memories and he seemed to be a quite capable fighter," Joseph remarked, taking another sip from his cup. "You're not entirely wrong," Jonathan admitted. "To skip Tabula Rasa would also save us quite some time. The Pairbond will be time consuming enough. Have you talked to Amelia yet?"

"Yes, but she has her objections." Joseph put his cup down and sighed. "She'll lose her doubts when he will save her butt. This is for her own good," Dr. Thorpe said harshly and looked at his watch. "Oh, I have to go back to the lab. I will call you then I´m ready to create the bond." Jonathan said goodbye to his friend and headed back to Point Prometheus.

After his return, Dr. Thorpe immediately went back to work. He ordered two of his assistants to fetch Loki from his cell so he could continue working on him. It was not long before he noticed the commotion in the hallways.

Loki felt bad, but still not bad enough that he would simply accept his fate. He won´t give up without a fight. He was already physically stronger than an ordinary human was, but the ADAM injection increased his strength. He grabbed one the assistants by the throat and easily lifted him off the ground. The other assistant was already unconscious on the ground. Loki´s grip became stronger and the man slowly passed out. Suddenly, a small, organic ball hit Loki and a green liquid spread over his shoulder, arm and chest.

"Put him down!" Dr. Thorpe commanded in an authoritarian and angry tone. Loki let go of the man. "And now follow me!" Dr. Thorpe´s Hypnotize plasmid caused Loki to follow him like an obedient dog.

Again, he was strapped to the T-shaped operating table. The cold metal shackles lay tight on him and almost cut off the blood circulation in his limbs. The effect of the Hypnotize plasmid subsided and Loki's mind became clearer again.

Loki watched as one of Dr. Thorpe´s assistants filled several syringes with the contents of various vials. More people entered the bright-lit room. Two of them placed several trays with a wide range of surgical instruments next to the operating table. Loki tried to break free from his shackles, but to no avail. "It won't work, no matter how hard you try. These shackles are made of a special metal and are incredibly tough," Dr. Thorpe taunted him.

After all the syringes were filled, Dr. Thorpe picked one of them up and turned towards Loki. "You should hope, that the anaesthesia will work on you, because the next steps will be incredible painful. Any last words you want to say?" Loki looked at him puzzled. "Well, when you wake up again, you won´t be able to speak anymore, because we will operate on your larynx or commonly called voice box. Your silver tongue will be no more then." His wide sadistic grin was hidden behind his surgical mask

It took Loki a moment to regain his composure. "What goes around comes around." Loki said with a bitter smile. "Remember this, Dr. Thorpe." Dr. Thorpe laughed and shook his head. "Still so stubborn? It would be much easier for you, if you would finally accept your fate. You are at a point of no return now. Why don´t you see the positive aspects? After all the horrible things you did on the surface, Joseph was willing to give you a second chance."

He started to inject the anaesthesia. "When this is over, you will be reborn." It took some time until Loki´s vision became blurry and the voices around him mixed into indistinguishable muffled noise.

Loki was given artificial respiration and his vitals were monitored. "So folks, let´s start." The smile in Dr. Thorpe´s voice was undeniable. He cracked his fingers, picked up a scalpel and turned towards the operating table. "You will be one of my greatest creations."

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Sorry that took me so long to finish this chapter. I was quite busy the past weeks. I hope you enjoyed it.


	10. Unbreakable bond

A dark, cold corridor stretched endlessly in front of Loki. He wondered where he was. In the far distance, he could spot a small glimpse of light. The closer he came to the light, the corridor expanded more and more. After what felt like an eternity he reached the end of the dark corridor. Loki recognized the room immediately - it was his room back in Asgard, but in the state when he was still a child. In the corner of his room, he saw a young blond boy standing, which covered his eyes with his hands. "8, 9, 10!" The boy turned around, and he started to search the room. "Thor…" Loki´s heart felt heavy.

The young Thor searched under the bed, in the closet, and behind the curtains. The boy scratched his head and pondered a moment. "Booh!" A young Loki jumped out of the toy chest behind Thor. After the scare, they both started laughing. "Aren´t you two supposed to be in bed?" Frigga asked, standing in the doorway. Both children looked at each other and then back at their mother with innocent smiles.

The scene in front of him started to shift. His younger self lay in bed. Frigga gently tucked him in and sung a lullaby. The softly kissed his forehead. "Good night, Loki." "Good night, mother," his younger self replied followed by a yawn.

Hot burning hands grabbed Loki´s ankles. The solid ground beneath him disappeared, and he was dragged underwater. Pitch black water filled his lungs. He desperately fought against the pull of the fiery hands, but more hands took hold of him and dragged him deeper and deeper.

Loki awakened with a gasp. He climbed lightheaded and wavering from the metal stretcher. His whole body felt heavy, and he was in a lot of pain. He leaned against the wall to regain his balance. Loki´s vision was tinted yellow, and he looked confused at his gloved hands. Metal plates attached to the gloves on the back of his hands bore the carvings of a rune. It was the rune Mannaz, the same rune tattooed on the back of his hand.

Slowly his memories returned and confusion started to settle in Loki´s mind. The last thing he remembered was that he was strapped to an operating table. _"Wait!"_ Shouldn´t he be unable to remember anything? Weren´t they about to turn him into one of these things?

Panicked, he touched his body and the only thing his gloved hands could feel was the dark green and black diving suit with the rounded metal helmet. He tried to say something but the sound that escaped his aching throat was something that rather belonged to an animal. Loki sank to his knees. Tears of despair ran down his cheeks. _"No. This can´t be."_ His head started to spin.

Dr. Jonathan Thorpe and a couple of his assistants watched his newest creation for while from another room over the Security Camera. "How is he?" asked Joseph Graham as he entered the room. "Physically, he is doing well according to the circumstances. He seems to have more difficulties to cope with his current state," Dr. Thorpe answered. "But in time he will adapt to his changed body. What about Amelia?"

"She is with Dr. Campbell at the moment. Do you think we can bring them together?" "Of course," Dr. Thorpe said with a wide grin and motioned to one of his assistants to get Amelia. "We can only test the success of the bonding process when they are together."

Loki sat against the wall of the cell completely apathetic. He never thought he would end up like this. The heavy metal door opened and a white-clad figure shoved a girl inside. Suddenly there was a strange feeling inside him he couldn´t really determine.

The girl was a juvenile of petite build, just 5ft 1" and pale skinned. Her red hair hung loosely on her shoulders. The white hospital gown she wore was a size too big for her small figure. The girl stood fearfully glued to one spot to scared to move a muscle.

"Loki, I would like to introduce you to my youngest daughter, Amelia Graham," proclaimed Joseph over the speaker. Despite the protest of his aching body, Loki got up and glanced down at the girl. He clenched his fists, all the anger and hatred towards Joseph Graham seethed inside him like a fire.

Loki took heavy steps towards her, but Amelia moved away in fear until she reached the corner of the room. Loki cornered her and slammed his fist against the wall next to her. Amelia looked terrified as he towered over her, tears running down her pale cheeks. She trembled with fear. "I´m sorry. I´m sorry," she kept repeating with a shaky voice.

" _You can save your apologies!"_ Burning with anger, Loki wrapped his hand around her frail neck. He wanted her to pay for her father's mistakes. Amelia's yellowish eyes fixed on the yellow porthole of his helmet. Something inside Loki blocked him from going through with his plan. It wasn´t the influence of Amelia´s father, it was something entirely else.

For a couple of minutes, they just stood there and stared at each other, his hand still around her neck. Loki noticed that the pain eased. He thought why this sudden change happened, and he quickly came to one conclusion: it had something to do with Amelia. His condition improved after she was put in the cell with him. Loki pulled his hand away and took a few steps away from her. _"What did they do to me?"_

Dr. Thorpe, two assistants, and two guards entered the room. "Seems the bonding procedure was a success," Dr. Thorpe grinned. "The reason you couldn´t hurt her is the Pairbond. It´s an unbreakable physical and psychological bond between the both of you."

Loki was shocked and angry. _"Why?! Why his daughter?!"_ Loki thought. " _Was this some kind of cruel joke from Joseph?"_ "I tweaked the effects of your bond a bit; let's see how good it works." Dr. Thorpe nodded to his assistant, which pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at the girl.

"What are you doing?" Amelia asked terrified. Loki suddenly had a strange pushing feeling. _"Stop him! Stop him!"_ A voice in his head kept repeating, to his own surprise it was his own voice. The image of the gun started to flicker in his mind, but it was from Amelia´s perspective. A flood of emotions washed over him. Loki fought the urge to step forward and grab the gun. _"I´m not a slave. I´m not his slave!"_

The assistant lowered the gun and fired. The moment the bullet hit Amelia´s lower leg, Loki cried out in pain as well. He hunched over and gripped the same spot on his leg. _"What the hell?!"_ It dawned on him, what Dr. Thorpe meant, by "tweaking the bond".

"You see what I changed or should I say feel? If someone is hurting her, you will feel it too. However, the most crucial point of the Pairbond is, with or without my little improvement, is that if you should try to run away or if Amelia dies, you will die too. Perhaps a bit faster, perhaps a bit slower, but death will certainly come and it won´t be an easy one," Dr. Thorpe explained to him, his tone growing darker.

Loki was baffled that Joseph would let someone intentionally hurt his own daughter. There had to be other ways to demonstrate this connection than to simply shoot her in her leg. He cursed in his head and still clutched his leg in pain.

Dr. Campbell stormed into the room and rushed over to Amelia. He was a tall and lean man in his late thirties to early forties, with short brown hair and brown eyes. Amelia cried from the pain and kept her hands on the wound to stop the bleeding. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he shouted furious at Dr. Thorpe.

"It´s okay, ssh. Let me have a look." He talked soothing to Amelia and inspected the wound. "Seems the bullet went through in a clean line," he explained to her. Dr. Thorpe looked displeased with Dr. Campbell´s behavior. "It was just a necessary demonstration," he justified his actions. "And I had her father´s permission."

Dr. Campbell let out a disgusted grunt. He carefully picked up Amelia and went towards the door. "If you excuse me, I have to take care of her injury," he hissed and gave Dr. Thorpe a dirty look before he left with her.

Shortly after that everyone left, Loki was alone with his thoughts, the pain in his leg started to subside. Loki wondered what will happen now, he didn´t want to be Graham´s puppet nor did he won't be the babysitter for a teenager. The suit would make it possible for him to enter the depths of the ocean, but it wouldn´t have any use if he would just die shortly after leaving.

In the meantime, finished Dr. Campbell the bandages around Amelia´s lower leg. "The effect of the painkillers should last for a couple of hours. I will get you crutches and some painkillers for later," he said calmly. Amelia just nodded and Dr. Campbell left the room.

Amelia took the chance to change from the hospital gown back into her normal clothes. After she dressed again, she wore a dark green skirt, white blouse and pale pink cardigan only her left shoe, because of the bandages on her lower right leg and foot.

Amelia was still terrified from her first encounter with Loki. Her father didn´t tell her much about him, just that he was a criminal, and he was from Asgard. Amelia always thought that Asgard and the mythology around were just old fairytales like her father and teachers always told her, then they talked about the different religious beliefs.

Dr. Campbell returned and noticed how thoughtful and worried Amelia looked. "What do you think about Loki? He really didn´t make a good first impression." "I don´t know. Honestly, he terrified me. If it wasn´t for the Pairbond, he would have killed me," she said softly. "But I can understand his anger, after what he has been through."

Dr. Campbell shook his head. "I know, but he can´t blame you for your father´s decisions," he replied and took a deep breath. "I´m sorry I couldn´t change your father´s mind about this idea."

"You know how stubborn father is. I guess I just have to make the most of it and perhaps Loki will trust me one day," Amelia smiled wearily. Dr. Campbell softly squeezed her shoulder. "I really wish I had your positive outlook on things. In that aspect, you´re a lot like your mother," Dr. Campbell mused.

Shortly after, Joseph entered the examination room. "It´s time to go. Are you ready?" Her father sounded impatient and didn´t even ask how she was. Amelia said goodbye to Dr. Campbell and followed her father slowly on the crutches.

"You must lose your fear of him. After all, you two are sharing a special bond now," Joseph rebuked coldly. "Remember your responsibilities in the coming years, there will be no room for doubts and fears." "Yes, father," she mumbled tiredly.

After they picked up Loki from his cell, the three made their way to the Atlantic Express. The underwater railway brought them to Olympus Heights. Rapture´s elite resided in Olympus Heights and that was clearly visible by the extravagant architecture, fine decorations, and the spotless cleanliness. Amelia sighed in relieve as they finally arrived the spacious and luxurious Penthouse of Graham family. This penthouse once belonged to Frank Fontaine. After Fontaine´s death, Joseph took ownership of the penthouse and had it rebuilt according to his ideas and wishes. The layout of the place changed completely over the decades.

"You should rest now Amelia," her father suggested. "Follow her!", her father ordered Loki, before Amelia went to her room. "He will reside in your room. As your protector, he has to stay by your side." Amelia felt a lump forming in her throat, but she didn´t dare to talk back, and they went to her room.

Amelia´s room was spacious. Dark wooden floor contrasted by pale blue wallpapers. The side of the room, where her bed stood, had a big picture window. When Amelia lay in bed she could still watch the ocean and its inhabitants. Opposite to the bed was a door that leads into her bathroom. Next to the bathroom door was a makeshift bed placed made from a sturdy metal frame and two mattresses. The makeshift bed was placed there according to her father's orders.

Amelia sat down on her bed stiffly. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Loki turned towards her. She didn´t dare to move an inch and grew more and more anxious. Her nails duck in the palms of her hands. Amelia kept her eyes on her knees and listened to his breaths. From the sound alone, it was hard to determine his mood. Amelia was relieved then Loki suddenly turned away and sat down on his bed.

Amelia took a deep breath, lied down on her bed and carefully propped her injured leg up on a pillow. Dr. Campbell told her to stay in bed and avoid as much stress as possible for her leg. For a while, Amelia just stared out of the window and watched a couple of fish pass by, until she fell asleep.

The throbbing pain in her leg woke Amelia up. She sat up and her gaze met Loki´s. He let out a deep rumble and clutched his leg. "I´m sorry, just give me a second." She grabbed her crutches and went to her bathroom to pour herself a glass of water to take the painkillers.

After she retreated to her bed, someone knocked on her door. "Come in." Amelia was glad to see her half-brother Walter enter the room. Both siblings were close, despite their age gap. The blonde haired man eyed Loki suspiciously. "Did he hurt you?" Walter asked and mentioned to her leg. "No, no," Amelia denied quickly. "It was Dr. Thorpe´s assistant. They wanted to demonstrate the new Pairbond."

Walter sighed and sat down next to his half-sister. "These goddamn bastards. Typical for our dear father to-" "Don´t be angry, you know it will be healed soon. Anyway, how are the wedding preparations going?" Amelia asked to change the subject. Walter smiled at the thought of his wedding and his future wife, Su-Ji Suchong. "Pretty good, but we are quite nervous."

Dinnertime came and Jean, the cook of the family, brought two dinner trays on a small cart to Amelia´s room, one for her and the other for Loki. The tray for Amelia had foldout legs, so she could eat in bed. Jean gave the new resident a suspicious look and left Loki´s dinner on Amelia´s desk.

After Amelia ate her dinner, she noticed that Loki didn´t even touch his meal. She thought that he must be hungry and require normal food. She doubted that her father would instruct Jean to cook an extra meal if it wouldn´t be eaten. Maybe Loki didn´t want to take his helmet off while she was around.

"I´m going to the living room for a while," Amelia said with a soft smile, before leaving her room. Amelia was pleasantly surprised to see the empty tray on her desk after she returned an hour later. She knew it would take quite a while to earn his trust, after all, he wasn´t an ordinary Big Daddy.

Later that night, after Amelia was soundly asleep, Loki went inside the bathroom. He stopped in front of the mirror and took a few deep breaths. With shaky hands, he took hold of the clips that kept his helmet tightly shut. He was afraid of what was hidden beneath the helmet, but he needed to know it.

He opened the clips, disconnected the oxygen tubes, which connected his helmet with the tanks on his back, and closed them, so he could breathe normally. His heart hammered in his chest as he lifted the brass-colored helmet off his head.

Loki dropped the helmet in disbelief, as he saw his face. " _What did they do to me?"_ Tears filled his eyes, and he had to support himself on the sink. With an angry growl, his fist hit the mirror. Dozens of shards fell into the sink and to the floor. They turned him into a monster trough and trough.

The shattering of mirror caused Amelia to jump up in her bed. Her eyes wandered over to the bathroom door. She could see the bathroom lights from under the door. A lump formed in her throat.

Loki put his helmet back on and left the bathroom. His gaze rested on the red-haired girl. She looked at him with worried and saddened eyes. He clenched his fists in anger. " _Stop looking at me like this!"_ Loki went over to her bed with heavy steps. He roughly grabbed Amelia´s shoulders, pressed her onto the mattress and threw her blanket over her head with a frustrated growl.

Amelia was puzzled but didn´t dare to protest or say anything. She pulled the blanket from her head, rolled onto her side and tried to fell back asleep. Amelia had an assumption, what he did in the bathroom and why her bathroom mirror was now broken.

* * *

Hi, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The chapter ended up a bit longer than I thought.


	11. Amelia

Two weeks have passed since Loki became Amelia´s Protector, but he still kept his distance and was passive towards everything. Maria, her stepmother, and great-aunt, even called him useless and a waste of time and resources. Her half-sister Erin was, despite her work as a psychiatrist, didn´t any empathy towards Loki and treated him just as bad. They were lucky, that her Pairbond with Loki kept them safe, because of the genetic similarities. Without it, Loki could have easily killed them.

Loki ate all his meals in Amelia´s room alone. It became something of a routine between them.

After lunchtime, Amelia brooded over her books; Loki looked out of the window and watched a couple of jellyfishes pass by. Joseph was very strict with Amelia´s education. She hated to be home-schooled. After Amelia moved in with her father and great-aunt, he forbid her to visit her old school. Amelia really liked her old school, the teachers were nice and she made a couple of friends there. Tears started to roll down her cheeks as Amelia thought about her mother. She missed her mother dearly and wanted things to be, as they were five years ago.

A loud bang ripped her away from her memories. Her desk lamp hit the wall and broke into several pieces. Amelia was shocked, she didn´t even notice that she used her powers. She hastily wiped away her tears and started to pick up the broken lamp.

Startled by the noise, Loki turned around and stared at her. He noticed her red puffy eyes. "I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to do it." Amelia apologized. He thought that her constant apologies were annoying and that it all was just an act to appear friendly. Loki couldn´t trust her, in the end, she would just turn out to be like her father.

Amelia wondered, what he was thinking. "Did I startle you? I was a bit lost in my thoughts and didn´t realize I used my Telekinesis." Loki let out a short grunt, turned around and continued to watch the ocean.

The rest of the day went by quiet and Amelia decided to go to bed early. A strange sound woke her up in the middle of the night. She sleepily turned around and rubbed her eyes. Her eyes widened suddenly and she shot up in her bed. "Loki?!" Amelia saw him cowered on his mattress, he was shaking and groaning in pain.

She got up and went over to him. She didn´t know what to do, but she had to do something. It broke Amelia's heart to see him like this. Dr. Campbell told her the Pairbond would also ease his pain, in the case Loki was injured, Amelia just needed to be at his side.

It took all her courage to step nearer towards him. She kneeled on the mattress before him and called him softly. "Loki?" He didn´t respond to her and Amelia reached out to him and carefully touched his gloved hand. Her hand rested on his for a few moments. She started to talk to him soothingly. Her fingers wrapped around Loki´s hand and she softly rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb.

The crippling pain started to subside and Loki stopped shaking. He slowly sat up and looked at her puzzled. Like remotely controlled, he took her other hand and held it gently. Her hands looked so small compared to his gloved hands.

For about ten minutes, the two sat opposite from each other and held hands. Loki seemed so calm at that moment. The yellow glowing porthole of his helmet even started to have a greenish tint. Loki let one of her hands go and his gloved fingers cautiously neared her cheek.

Loki was confused with the whole situation. It felt like he lost all control of his body and could only focus on the red-haired girl in front of him. He was drawn to her like a moth to the light. The tips of his fingers hovered over her cheek.

A conflict in Loki´s heart started to brew. His mind lost the focus on Amelia, and he started to focus on only one thing, that she was Joseph´s daughter. He couldn´t afford to trust her, he would it surely regret it later. Anger surged inside his mind and heart. If it wasn´t for Joseph Graham, he wouldn´t have to deal with this defiled body and mind of his.

Suddenly his hand shot forward and grabbed Amelia by her throat. Loki slowly got up and kept his hand around her throat. The porthole glowed in a much darker yellow. Amelia´s small hands grabbed hold of his arm and her knees were shaking. "Loki please." Her eyes were filled with tears. "I´m sorry. I´m sorry for what my father did to you." Her tears were dripping down on his gloved hands. "If I could make this all undone, I would do it immediately."

"What are you doing" Loki was startled, he couldn´t believe it, he heard James voice in his head. "Let her go, it wasn´t her fault. You know that!" "Is that some kind of mind trick?" Loki asked the voice in his head bitterly. "Let her go, now!" "James, why can I still hear you? Is this a coping mechanism or a manifestation of my conscience?" "I don´t know, maybe something of both. But what I know is that you have to stop projecting your hatred for Joseph onto her."

Loki gazed upon the crying girl. Amelia looked at him with pleading eyes. She could have pushed him aside with her Telekinesis, but she didn´t want to hurt him. Loki´s hand begun to shake, he felt torn apart. "Just let go." Loki let go of her and pushed Amelia away in frustration. Amelia stumbled over her feet and fell.

A sharp pain shot through his forehead. Amelia kneeled next to her bed and stared at the red liquid on her hand. Her forehead had hit the metal bed frame as she fell down. She looked at Loki in disbelief.

Amelia turned even paler than before. She was almost crawling towards the bathroom. Loki stomach turned and he felt sick. He heard Amelia throwing up violently. A part of him started to feel sorry. "Why did you do this?"

Amelia clinked to the toilet bowl as if her life depended on it. She felt dizzy and tears streamed down her face after she was done. Amelia flushed the remnants of her dinner down the drain. She thought, that her throwing up was mostly caused by her shock.

Loki stepped into the bathroom. Amelia sat next to the toilet bowl and still held partially onto it. She pressed the sleeve of her nightgown against the wound on her forehead. He could see the fear in her eyes. Loki let out an annoyed sounding sigh and threw a towel from the towel rack towards her. Amelia just nodded and pressed the towel against her bleeding wound. Loki grunted lowly, turned around and left her alone. "Seriously? You can´t just leave her like this."

Amelia shortly left the bathroom after Loki on wobbly legs. She kept the towel pressed against her bleeding forehead. She went into the living room as silent as possible. The living room was sparely illuminated by the glow of the bioluminescent mass beneath the city.

In the middle of the room stood a golden-colored corner sofa. Next to the sofa was a dark brown recliner chair placed. Between the sofa and the recliner chair stood a side table made from teak wood with a table lamp on it. The coffee table between sofa and television, the wall unit on the other side of the room and the lowboy next to the doorway arch were also made from teak wood.

Amelia steered towards the lowboy and turned the table lamp on that sat between the phone and the radio with an integrated record player. She picked up the receiver and dialed Dr. Campbell´s number. She nervously waited for his answer.

Loki eavesdropped at the ajar door. He heard Amelia talking to someone on the phone with a hushed voice. The helmet made it difficult for him to hear what she exactly was saying.

Amelia hung up, turned off the table lamp and went back to her room. She nearly bumped into Loki, who was still standing behind the door. She slipped past him, took deep breathes and focused. Her hands, wrists and lower arm started to glow in a white light. Her hands felt warmer and she reached out in front of her. Small white glowing lines appeared around her hands that looked like cracks in the fabric of reality. After the small cracks focused into a larger one, Amelia begun to pry it open with her warm, glowing hands.

Loki stood glued to his spot. "What is this girl?" The crack expanded into a portal. The portal created a gateway between Amelia´s room and Dr. Campbell´s apartment. Amelia stumbled a bit forward but Dr. Campbell stopped her by taking hold of her shoulders. He stepped out of the man-sized portal before it closed again. He navigated the girl to her bed and sat her down.

"Are you really alright?" he asked concerned and examined her injury. "It´s fine." Amelia waved aside. "You will need some stitches." Dr. Campbell opened the doctor´s bag, he brought with him and sorted through the utensils he needed. "You better lay down."

Amelia did as she was told. Dr. Campbell put a headlamp on his head for better sight, before he disinfected the wound and started working on her stitches. "And this was really just an accident?" Dr. Campbell asked and glimpsed at Loki suspiciously. "Yes, it happened as I told you," Amelia assured him. "You never were that clumsy." "I just tripped. This happens to a lot of people." She shoved aside his concerns. "Was the portal then really necessary? You know how much these things exhaust you." Amelia dodged his line of sight. "I didn´t want to wake up my father and Maria just to deactivate the security code and unlock the door."

Amelia lied about what happened. Loki couldn´t understand why. She brought for excuse after excuse. Why wasn´t she just telling the truth? After Dr. Campbell was done taking care of Amelia. The procedure with the portal´s opening repeated. The portal opened, Dr. Campbell stepped through it and it closed again shortly after.

Everything around Amelia was spinning. She felt exhausted and nauseous. Her shaking knees gave out and she fell backward. To her surprise, she didn´t hit the floor. Confused and warily she looked up into a yellow porthole. "Loki?" she mumbled surprised.

Loki didn´t know what caused him to catch her. It happened completely automatic. A part of him got angry because he again couldn´t control his actions, while the other part almost enjoyed it to hold Amelia in his arms. While Loki still thought about his inner conflict about Amelia, the young girl was fast asleep in his arms.

Loki picked her up and placed her in her bed. He took a moment to gaze at the girl. "She looks nothing like her father." He thought. Like remotely controlled, his hand neared Amelia´s face and he stroked her cheek with his middle and index finger. Loki stepped away from the bed and saw his reflection in the window, instead of the usual yellow color, his porthole was now glowing green.

A couple of hours later, Amelia´s alarm clock started ringing. The red-haired girl mumbled something in cohesive, turned off the alarm clock and continued sleeping after pulling her blanket over her head. She was still too exhausted.

Loki instead got up sleepy and disappeared into the bathroom. He took off his helmet, his boots, and his gloves and set them aside next to the oxygen tanks he carried around on his back. He took the tanks off at night. These were the only parts of his suit he could take off. He would prefer it more to sleep without the boots, gloves and the helmet on, but he didn´t feel comfortable enough around Amelia to do so.

Despite having the suit crafted to his skin, he still wanted to shower. It made him feel cleaner. After he finished his shower and was dry again, Loki continued to brush his teeth and he put on his boots, oxygen tanks, gloves and helmet back on. Amelia was still asleep when Loki left the bathroom.

Over an hour later, Maria knocked on Amelia´s door, but the redhead didn´t hear it. Maria was in her early fifties; she had thin stature, blue eyes and wore her blonde hair in big curls. Maria always wore a bright red lipstick and eyeliner. She irradiated an aura of beauty and elegance. Maria knocked more forceful and opened the door. "Amelia, it´s time to get up!" Maria called out to her and pulled the blanket away. Amelia woke up and blinked at her groggy. "What the…?" Maria stared at Amelia´s bloody nightgown and her injured forehead wide-eyed. Maria leered at Loki and left the room to call out to her husband.

Amelia panicked; she knew her father would be furious about what Loki did. She scrambled out of bed as her father appeared in the doorway. "What happened here?" Her father´s dark gleaming eyes daunted Amelia. "It was an accident," she stammered daunted. "I had to go to the bathroom in the night. I didn´t turn the light on, tripped over my own feet in the dark and hit my head on the bed frame."

Loki´s eyes widened. Why was she lying? "And who stitched you up?" Amelia played nervously with her fingers behind her back. "Dr. Campbell. I didn´t want to wake you up. So I called him myself and…" "And what?" Amelia swallowed the forming lump in her throat and sighed shakily. "I opened a portal to bring him here and back home." She gradually became quieter. "Didn´t I forbid you to use that Plasmid without my permission?" "I´m sorry…"

Joseph crossed his arm in front of his chest and turned towards Loki. "And now I want to hear the real story." Amelia looked over at Loki with fearful eyes and shook her head slightly, without her father noticing. Joseph stared Loki down and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go on, you know I can hear your thoughts. If you aren´t cooperating I can take a look at your memories. "Just tell him it was an accident." Amelia pleaded in her mind. She covered her mouth in shock as her father glared over his shoulder at her.

"Why do you sound so pleading?" Amelia turned white as a sheet. "I didn´t mean…" "Enough!" Joseph lashed out at her and grabbed her hand. "I´m really disappointed, Amelia." "I´m sorry." Amelia´s apology wasn´t addressed towards her father but to Loki. "Your erratic and negligent behavior got her hurt!"

A skull-splitting headache hit Loki with immense force. He fell to his knees and whimpered in pain. "No! Please, father, stop this!" "This is his own fault." Amelia ran past her father, kneeled down next to Loki and held his hand. Loki´s pain lessened and his breathing calmed down. Joseph stopped his torture, he couldn´t understand why Amelia still tried to protect Loki. "He deserves this punishment! Step aside!" It took all her courage, but Amelia finally talked back to her father for the first time in 16 years. "I won´t!" Her cheeks turned red from excitement, to be finally able to do it. "I won´t stand aside as you torture the person bonded to me! He made a mistake, he didn´t do it to intentionally hurt me!"

Joseph was in a state between anger and completely dumbfounded. Amelia was always quiet and timid; he would have never expected an outburst like this from her. "We will talk later about this," Joseph hissed and left not only Amelia´s room but also the penthouse. "How could you talk to your father like that, you unthankful brat?!"

Maria stormed off after her husband and slammed the door shut. Loki and Amelia were alone again. Amelia slumped down her bed, tears rolled down her cheeks. "What did we just get ourselves into," she laughed in a sad and bitter tone.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)


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